Capital Budgeting and Strategic Planning

Capital budgeting raises money through various means, including issuing municipal bonds and using that money to build large physical items such as buildings, roads, bridges, and rail systems for municipal and state governments. Traditional public operating budgets are concerned with on-going government activities such as paying for salaries of teachers, detention officers, librarians, and so on. Instead, capital budgeting and strategic planning is about thinking years ahead and then raising money for the construction of schools, jails, libraries, and so on. Students will work on capital facility planning, by preparing a mock bond prospectus, drafting a notice of bond sales, using syndicates, debt reporting, and bond ratings. Most importantly, they will learn how to take measures to avoid municipal bankruptcy, explore the nature of derivatives, future options, floaters, sale-leasing back, put options, and other financial instruments.